Sutures are used for a variety of surgical purposes, such as approximation of tissue and ligation of tissue. When placing sutures, the strand of suture material to be used typically has a needle affixed to one end which is passed (looped) through the tissue to be approximated or ligated, forming a stitch. The stitch is then tensioned appropriately, and the two free ends of the suture loop, the needle end and the non-needle end, are knotted to retain the desired tension in the stitch. Forming knots in suture during open surgery is a simple matter, though time-consuming, but forming knots in sutures during endoscopic surgery can require two surgeons to cooperate in a multi-step process which is performed with multiple instruments to pass the needle and suture back and forth to tie the suture knot.
Suture locking devices that eliminate the need to tie knots in order to speed up surgical procedures are known. Suture retainers or locks are used in place of suture knots to prevent passage of a suture end into and through tissue and to maintain the tension applied to the suture material during a suturing procedure.
When using a method that employs a clip to secure sutures, the clip can be delivered by advancing the clip along the suture lines to the area of interest, and then engaging the clip to the sutures such that the clip secures the sutures in place. With the clip thus secured, the excess sutures can be cut and removed from the patient. However, deployment of several suture clips during a procedure can be very time consuming, difficult to accomplish without error, and prone to inconsistent tensioning from one clip to the next. In light of the foregoing, there is presently a need for improved systems for securing sutures with suture clips.